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NOC slashes gasoline prices
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed gasoline prices effective from midnight. The state-owned enterprise has reduced price of cooking gas by Rs25 per cylinder, aviation fuel sold to domestic airlines by Rs4 per litre while petrol, diesel and kerosene saw a price drop of Rs2 per litre.Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has slashed gasoline prices effective from midnight. The state-owned enterprise has reduced price of cooking gas by Rs25 per cylinder, aviation fuel sold to domestic airlines by Rs4 per litre while petrol, diesel and kerosene saw a price drop of Rs2 per litre.
With the revised price, cooking gas will cost Rs1,350 per cylinder. Similarly, petrol will cost Rs98 per litre while diesel and kerosene will each cost Rs74 per litre. Likewise, the price of fuel sold to domestic airlines dropped by Rs4, from Rs86 to Rs82 per litre. Domestic airlines companies will reduce surcharge on air fares.
According to NOC, it has revised the fuel prices based on the new price lists that the enterprise received from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of gasoline to Nepal. NOC Spokesperson Sitaram Pokharel said the Indian supplier had lowered the price in the new price list that was sent to NOC on Saturday.
NOC had reduced petroleum prices two weeks ago. However, it had kept the price of cooking gas unchanged.
After facing criticism for not revising the prices in the domestic market in line despite adopting the auto pricing system, NOC reduced the price of almost all types of fuel that it sold.
The state-owned enterprise had claimed that lower prices in Nepal would promote fuel smuggling at the Nepal-India border.
However, the enterprise has been blamed for being reluctant to reduce prices just to earn inflated profit. With the new price drop, NOC’s projected profit stands at more than Rs800 million per month.
NOC attributed the recent price drop to falling fuel prices in the international market. “The Indian supplier has revised the price based on the international price,” Pokharel said.
Indian media have reported that there was successive fall of fuel prices in the Indian market where the authority has been revising the fuel price on daily basis since April. “Over a week, the fuel prices dip in daily revision,” stated Times of India.
Reuters also reported that the oil price had been declining with an increased supply in the international market.
“US crude futures have slumped about 15 percent so far this year to about $46 per barrel, and as of Friday, ended its worst half-year performance in 19 years,” states Reuters .
The international media reported that an agreement between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and other producers to cut output had kept oil prices stable in the last few months.
“But OECD total oil inventories are still above 3 billion barrels due to an unexpected recovery in Libyan and Nigerian supplies and a rebound in US shale production,” Reuters reported.